


terms and conditions

by justjoy



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 22:44:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13511301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjoy/pseuds/justjoy
Summary: Lea turned up the car's heating, and didn't quite manage to stifle a sneeze. She'd left Glassman waiting outside the bus for Shaun – and they would befine, she reassured herself for the third time.(or, a short episode tag thing for sandfirekat's awesome fica long way home, set after the last bus scene.)





	terms and conditions

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Long Way Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13027632) by [SandfireKat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandfireKat/pseuds/SandfireKat). 



Lea turned up the car's heating, and didn't quite manage to stifle a sneeze. She'd left Glassman waiting outside the bus for Shaun – and they would be _fine_ , she reassured herself for the third time.

However sideways things had gone recently, Glassman had still known Shaun for a gadzillion times longer than Lea had, and she didn't want her presence stopping them from saying the things that needed to be said. So she was worrying over nothing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a series of raps – a familiar pattern, like Shaun was knocking on her apartment door instead of the passenger window.

Lea rolled her eyes, and waved vaguely at him to get in the car already. "Do you knock on the operating theatre doors before you go in, too?" she asked dryly when he opened the door, letting a gust of cold air.

Shaun looked at her with the tiny frown he got when trying to figure out if someone was being serious or not. "You seemed to be thinking about something," he said instead, which probably meant that he'd decided (correctly, go Shaun) that she was being sarcastic. "I didn't want to startle you."

Which was fair enough, she supposed. "That's very considerate of you, seeing as I've barged into your apartment how many times already. You two done talking?"

He nodded, though he made no move to get into the car. "Dr Glassman said that we could talk more later, when I get back to San Jose. But only if I want to," he added.

"Good. That's good," Lea said with what was hopefully an encouraging grin, but Shaun still didn't budge from where he stood by the open door. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Was there someplace else you wanted to go?"

He didn't answer, but at least she could see the cogs turning somewhere in his head.

"Shaun?" she tried again, before the silence could stretch too long. "Is there something you need to get?"

The wind was really picking up now, and the car was on a quick road to absolutely freezing by this point. Shaun Murphy – excellent doctor, _terrible_ passenger, Lea thought.

She had almost given up on getting an answer to this question when she heard his voice. "Lea. I want to..." he paused, reconsidered his words for a moment. "There are three things I'd like to say to you, before we leave."

"As long as none of them involve a detour halfway across the country in the other direction, I'm good," she joked through a jolt of something like pleased surprise. Figured, that he'd turn her own advice on getting what he wanted back on her. Lea didn't mind at all. "So, shoot."

He nodded, though it seemed mostly directed at himself instead of her, and said, "I don't like it when people yell."

Lea couldn't help the wince. Knowing what she did now, Shaun probably didn't like it even when anyone shouted near him, let alone _at_ him, and she'd done... quite a lot of that, yesterday. Nothing that she would or could take back, but still.

"I can't promise not to yell about anything ever," she said, because she honestly couldn't, "but I'll try not to do it around you, okay? And you can tell me to stop anytime, if it's bothering you."

Shaun didn't respond to that, instead barrelling right on to what was apparently item number two; his negotiation skills needed some work, clearly. "When we get back to San Jose, you should meet the rest of the team at St Bonaventure. I mean, if you want to?" he tacked on, sounding suddenly uncertain.

Lea shrugged; she was going to have to tell him about that phonecall with Claire, at some point. "Sure, I don't mind. Maybe I'll get to see all you doctors taking some hippo oath together, who knows?"

He'd definitely smiled at least a little at that – she had caught him at it. Ha. "You should tell Jared that one. He would probably find it funny. Also, I would like four pancakes."

The last bit was said so plainly that it took her a moment to realise that it was item number three on his list. Negotiation skills, _definitely_. "Will you be taking blueberries with that?"

"No, I prefer chocolate chips," he answered helpfully, followed by "Did I say something wrong?" when Lea huffed a breath of amusement.

She shook her head – it really hadn't been a bad attempt, all things considered. "Just, you should probably leave out the pancakes out when you talk to your... boss doctor or whatever he's called, yeah? Unless you guys talk over breakfast or something."

"Dr Melendez is my attending. He usually has breakfast with Jessica before coming into work," Shaun answered, because he'd probably remembered the vehicles of half the hospital staff by the end of his first week.

"Right. No pancakes for him, then." Lea drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, a thought occurring to her. "Do you mind if I tell you three things as well, then, Shaun?"

He thought a moment before nodding. "Three for three seems like a fair exchange, yes."

Lea grinned – she'd got him, this time. "First off, come in and close the door, it's _freezing_."

Shaun looked like he was about to say something about that (which was rich, coming from someone who'd wasted a genie wish on _pancakes_ ) before he sat down and – finally – closed the passenger door beside him. "Okay," he said, sounding half like a question.

"Next time something's bugging you," Lea began, and paused, trying to reword that to something more definite; the last thing Shaun needed was being unsure about this. "If there's stuff going on at work or elsewhere that's making you feel frustrated, or sad, or – y'know, just not as happy as you should be, you tell me about it, okay? I'm ready to listen, anytime, and we can figure out what to do from there."

The faint frown was back on his face again, but instead of the dozen things she'd been expecting Shaun said, "Not anytime. You were upset when I looked for my screwdriver at three am," he added when she glanced at him in confusion.

Oh. She was going to find out the story behind that screwdriver search someday, she _was._ "Fine then, not _any_ time, but you can still text me even when I'm asleep, right? Then we can talk about it the next day, or something. Deal?"

He didn't answer right away, and Lea busied herself with opening Google Maps – seventeen hours and two minutes home, today – and idly checking the weather forecast until he said, decisively, "Deal."

Lea was trying not to grin too hard and mostly failing. "I'm going to hold you to that, Shaun Murphy, so don't you forget it!"

"I don't forget things easily," came the reply, and "What's the third?"

She looked over to see Shaun staring at her. "Hm?"

"You said, three things to tell me." He was still frowning, slightly. "That was only two."

Right. Of course he'd notice that. "I'll figure something out over pancakes then, that usually works," she said, clicking her seat belt into place.

He did the same. "Now? But we just had breakfast not that long ago."

Like he hadn't been the one to request pancakes in the first place. Should've specified when he wanted to have them, too bad then.

Lea rolled her eyes as she started the engine. "Yes, well. Today is the day I introduce you to the glorious concept of second breakfast! You could do with it anyway, you skinny beanpole." She certainly could do with one herself – the entire morning had turned out to be one heck of a emotional ride, and she was exhausted just from sitting at the sidelines, even before the thought of driving back to California. "What, do doctors only eat anatomy textbooks for lunch or something?"

"That would be an unbalanced diet," Shaun informed her critically. "We also have pathology, histology, physiology – "

He was _ridiculous,_ and Lea couldn't help it – she laughed. "I get it, Shaun, maybe the third thing should be you getting at least a learner's permit before we do any more road trips like these."

"I'm not sure how I'd schedule that around my residency hours," Shaun said thoughtfully, but at least he wasn't objecting to the second part of the sentence, and – well, turned out that Lea didn't mind the driving so much, actually.

"Damn, I have to think of something else then. Or maybe I'll just teach you myself." Lea snickered at the mildly alarmed expression on his face at that. "So, you know any good places for pancakes in Casper, Doctor Shaun?"

"It's Doctor _Murphy,_ " he protested, but he was definitely smiling now, there was no denying that.

Lea counted it as a win.

 

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [works no longer in progress, 2018 ed.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17120249) by [pnjunction (justjoy)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjoy/pseuds/pnjunction)




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